VR Sea Legs – Update 5

This week we continued to focus on developing our first areas.

We settled on a basic look and feel for the Conversion Area, and made final decisions on how the player converts from a digital projection. The basic idea here is that the player will need to build a pattern enhancer (yes, I do love Star Trek – why do you ask?). Once the player assembles the pattern enhancer, it will be clear to the player that they should step into the triangle. At this point, the pattern enhancer converts them into their game state, and they end up at the Laboratory.

The Laboratory received upgrades to the hub room – a new portal!

So fancy!

A fellow OLP member, Skye Shark, completed this work for us and it’s absolutely perfect. Thanks, Skye!

Seaside Town now has craft areas set up for completing quests. I completed the first draft for the music, placed it in the scene, and so far I’m happy with the results.

On the overall game, we also focused on character voicing requirements. I plan to record the main character in 2 weeks’ time.

Content Unlocked!

The area we are unlocking this week uses the basic flight mechanic in space. We’re calling this area SpaceDragon: First Flight. We will use some assets (namely the dragons) from our game SpaceDragon to create this prequel story for how our hatchling space dragons learned to fly.

So then… let’s talk about flight:
VR’s greatest advantage is the ability to experience situations outside real life. Everyone dreams of flying, so let’s talk about flying in VR!

In reality, all of us have a wealth of experience moving on the ground and (most of us) zero experience flying without the aid of an airplane. Because of this, many people feel discomfort when they perceive they have left the ground. Those with vertigo or fear of heights experience increased discomfort. What does this mean for flight in VR?

Movement intention to the rescue! We split our flight systems into Hand-guided and Rubberband, and now we’ll talk about the difference.

In Hand-guided movement, you point the controller and press the movement button. That’s where you go. For flight, you can point at any location in an orb, a full 360 degrees around you… well, until you run into a planet or an asteroid.

With Rubberband, you set an anchor point by holding down a trigger or button, and then pull your controller in the direction you want to travel. The direction and distance you pull the controller from the anchor point determines both your direction and your speed, and it gives you a granular control over your motion and velocity.

Team update:
Robin Moulder – Production, Music, Audio Engineer
Colin McComb – Production, Story, Narrative Design
Chris Castaldi – Programming, Systems and Game Design
Cordelia Wolf – 3D Art, Animation, Level Design, FX
Christina Irwin – 2D Graphics, UI, Marketing Design, Website
We have several other amazing people lined up for voice acting: Maureen Honoré and O (yes, he goes by O).

Next week we will focus on grounded FPS and unlock a new area!